Maharashtra government to allow women to work in night shifts

Maharashtra Government has decided to allow women employees to work in night shifts.

In this regard, state government is going to amend Section 66(1) (c) Factories Act 1948, thus making the way for women employees to work in night shifts.

At present, section 66(1) (c) of Act does not allow women employees from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM. However, after amending the 67-year old Act, the factory managements will have to ensure security of women working in night shifts.

Apart from this, the proposed amendment will also enable workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the current 240 days or more.

Besides this, amendment will also not make mandatory for workers to take the management’s permission for working overtime. In this regard, the amendment will increase the limit to 115 hours from the current 75 in 3 months.

With this, Maharashtra has joined the list of Indian states that already have allowed women to work in night shifts or are in the process of doing so. They are Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.